10 Things to Know About Windows 8

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At All Things D last night, Steven Sinofsky, the President of Microsoft’s Windows division, gave us a peek at what Windows 8 will look like. A lot will likely change between now and the time the OS is available to the public, or even in beta, but that sneak peek revealed some important details about the future of Windows, and how Microsoft sees us using our computers in the future.

At first glance, the interface is different: so much so that it’s almost unrecognizable from the standard Windows we all know so well. The taskbar is gone, the desktop is gone, and in their place is a very Windows Phone 7-style system of tiles. In a preview video, Microsoft director of Program Management Jensen Harris took us on a tour of the video, but some of the most important things to know about Windows 8 are the things he didn’t say. Here are some of them:

1. Windows 8 will support system-on-a-chip architecture, meaning tablets and other devices. We can all put the rumors to rest that Microsoft would make a play for the tablet market with Windows Phone 7. Instead, Microsoft has gone in for a convergence play, bringing the desktop and laptop versions of Windows closer to Windows Phone 7 instead. The interesting thing is that they’re trying to do it without cramming the code for Windows Phone 7 down the throats of desktop users. We already knew that Windows 8 would have ARM support and x86 support, but based on the video we know that Microsoft is going for the same experience regardless of the device you’ll use. The only question remaining is whether or not Windows 8 will come in separate versions or SKUs for tablets. We’re betting they will.

2. Windows 8 will be backwards compatible. Near the end of the video, Harris expressly says that users will be able to open and run “legacy apps,” even from the Start Screen. He uses Microsoft Office as an example to prove that old Windows 7 applications will work on Windows 8, and while it looks horrible, it does work. The big unresolved question here is whether or not that means you’ll be able to run Microsoft Office on your ARM-equipped tablet. At least laptop and desktop users won’t have to ditch all of their software to upgrade to Windows 8.

3. Windows 8’s Start Screen can be disabled. Another thing we saw near the end of the video when Jensen opened Microsoft Office was the standard Windows 7 UI underneath the Start Screen. That means you’ll be able to turn the Start Screen off entirely and use Windows 8 the same way you use Windows 7. You may be able to drag in newer Windows 8 apps into view on the sides of your screen, but you’ll definitely be able to navigate files and folders and run applications the way you’re used to. Plus, there’s a “Desktop” tile on the Start Screen. What more proof do you need?

4. Windows 8 Applications will run in Metro UI. One thing you can’t miss in the demo is that all of the apps that Harris runs make use of the Metro UI interface, and those apps never deviate from the Metro design. The video makes it difficult to tell how you’ll be able to run multiple apps simultaneously without swiping side to side to move among them, but that could be the point. Much like Windows Phone 7, Microsoft’s interpretation of “multitasking” looks like one app has the foreground while others run in the back, where you can’t see them. All of the apps that you see in the video behave this way, unless you go back to the “legacy” apps on the old Windows desktop.

5. Windows 8 will be the most touch-capable OS on the market. Microsoft is betting a bundle that more people want tablets, laptops with trackpads, and all-in-one PCs with touch-screens than ever before. They’re also clearly making a bet that keyboards and mice as tools to navigate windows and applications are on the way out. The on-screen keyboard still, even though Harris complains about it in the video, takes up half the screen, which tells us they’re not too concerned about people actually spending time typing. The new UI is designed to get you to files with swipes and multi-touch gestures, and then when you’re ready to use the app, then you can use your keyboard and mouse. Every Windows 8 native application we saw supported multi-touch gestures, and there were no keyboards or mice to be seen in the demo. At all.—Next: 6-10 >

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Seems like this MetroUI concept looks good as a MS Plus!-type (cringe, remember that?) add-on for download (at around the same $30 price point) so that it can serve as the screensaver. IE Graphically Display a varying array of interrelated and mutually exclusive information that is specific to the user (while preventing the user to use the space to meaningfully interact [AKA do work]). The option for full screen “non-legacy” apps is, frankly, just an MS clone of the Apple fullscreen, iOS–Back-to-the-Mac–>OSX branding play. It is NOT a new feature but there was an Add-on application launcher that streamlines the interface and re-aligns Mac (OSX) closer to iPad/iPhone (iOS).

This is not to say that it not a significant idea. After getting my Mother an iPad as a gift, while fretting about her aging WinTel laptop, the idea of finally transitioning her to working on a Mac is very attractive. And I see why MS stole that idea, with the unexpected success of WP7. Timing-wise, Apple had to release this feature with Lion (it was really easy to implement, after the Leopard/SnowLeopard[incremental, no new features, all back-end/developer]/Lion[Big Feature-Packed Release of the King of the Big Cats] transitions). It is perhaps the the last OS X (but there is room for 10.8 and 10.9) but Lion was a long time in the making, pre-announced even, and there will not be a noteworthy update for a while. W8 is so far off, MS will look rather late to the party. And, unfortunately, they will be effectively delivering a full screen screensaver/launcher for their workstation clients, after many more quarters than a launcher should take to make. ARM and SoC compatibility can wait. An emulator for WP7 phones could be the next step… or make the add-on actually worth it.

Also, it annoys me when this is omitted so I will say it to respect my own rules: OSX and iOS are the same in so much that its a difference of compile flags for the same code. Jobs said as much when announcing the first iPod Touch device (before the iOS brand was instantiated). Something to the effect of: “We didn’t have to start from scratch. We took our awesome OSX code and foundation, and boiled it down to work on this cool new thing. You people will love it. So, yeah, we make a little OSX (and won’t name it for a year or so) and did the same thing with Safari.”Thanks for the article.No other comments? That’s weak sauce. Y’all out there are amateurs!

Isaac Robitaille

Hey, I liked Plus!

2322

whatt the fXck

Anonymous

Will all programs (repeat all programs) that ran on Windows XP run on Windows 8, or only those which ran on Windows 7. I found that the switch from Windows XP to Windows 7 made several very useful programs redundant.

Anonymous

Will all programs (repeat all programs) that ran on Windows XP run on
Windows 8, or only those which ran on Windows 7. I found that the
switch from Windows XP to Windows 7 made several very useful programs
redundant.

2322

hi

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